Prescription for Profits

If the top executives of the world's biggest drugmakers ever draw up a list of people they dislike most, Yusuf Hamied's name will probably be near the top. In 2001, Hamied, chairman of the Bombay-based pharmaceutical company Cipla, declared his willingness to sell AIDS drugs in Africa for less than 4% of the price charged by multinational giants—and created a public-relations nightmare for American and European drugmakers, who were immediately accused by health activists of exploiting Africa's impoverished AIDS victims. Two years later, the suave, articulate Hamied hasn't lost any of his flair for dramatic pronouncements. Asked to describe the current...